WHAT image comes to mind in most people's thoughts when they think of the country gardener? Some may envisage a mature retired man lovingly caring for his rows of well-cared-for vegetables, stopping only to take a quick slurp of his brandy-laced coffee from his flask on a cold autumn morning.

Others would imagine a well-to-do middle-aged woman, secateurs in hand and wooden trug by her side, gently cutting blooms to display in the home.

But the gardener I talked to cannot be pigeon-holed into any of these rosy stereotypes. Indeed, she has even been called something of a maverick by one or two of the local established gardeners.

I am referring to a little-known local talent who surprised everyone - including herself - by reaching the final of one of the top national gardening competitions for amateur gardeners, namely the BBC Gardener of the Year.

Jacqueline Attrill was described by the BBC in one of its releases as a 30-year-old mother-of-two.

"It wasn't a very interesting title, was it?" she said.

She moved into Wortley Cottage, Husthwaite, with her family in July 1998.

"I grew up roaming the Cotswolds on my push bike. This must have left a lasting impression as I have modified and redesigned my garden in the style of an English cottage garden."

The garden has been divided into various areas depending on use and position. The grown-ups can enjoy a peaceful glass of wine with friends on the sun-drenched patio, whereas children can go and wreak havoc among the little hiding places dotted around the part of the garden furthest from the house.

At the time, Ms Attrill had only been interested in gardening for six years and began studying horticulture and garden design in 1999. As a relatively new gardener, taking on an existing garden covering about one-fifth of an acre was quite a challenge but one that she relished.

"I must have done something right as the garden attracted many visitors and favourable comments earlier on in the year when it was opened to the public's scrutiny. This gave me the confidence to do something rather out of character, to enter the BBC competition - after all, what did I have to lose apart from my sanity, a whole summer and an autumn of local radio and press interviews?

"People constantly ask me, 'What was it like ... making the programme?' Naturally, it was not like anything else that I'd experienced beforehand and I treated the whole competition as a big adventure. In order to reach the final I had to work through a series of rounds. Initially, the application form went in to the BBC. This was then followed by a tough telephone quiz (just to make sure that I wasn't cheating) and a visit by Phil McCann, a BBC garden writer and, of course, the cameras.

"The phone call confirming my place in the final came while I was in the middle of my weekly supermarket shop in Boroughbridge, not exactly the most private of places in which to jump for joy. So, I had to be content with continuing my motherly duties with a stupid grin plastered on my face.

"My home garden was filmed for a second time and I was interviewed yet again. Unfortunately, the heavens opened and I was forced to suffer the indignity of being filmed with the rain trickling down my cheeks while sitting on a soggy chair. At this point, it dawned on me that TV work was not quite as glamorous as they would have us all believe."

THE programme schedule was tight and the finalists were given only a few days in which to design, source and cost the show gardens which they were to build at Birmingham Botanical Gardens a month later.

Ms Attrill's design was an urban garden designed for a female professional woman to unwind in. It was heavily influenced by medieval monastic gardens and traditional country crafts.

"It was called Peace at Last which would turn out to be ironic as filming the programme was anything but peaceful," she said.

"Most of the fun happened off camera. The days were long and hard. Each time the finalists had got into the swing of things, we would be ordered to appear at some far-off area of the botanical gardens to take part in so-called knowledge challenges, apparently designed to test our horticultural prowess. Needless to say, these tests provided us with an entertaining topic of conversation as we sat around a large oak table in the local pub each evening mulling over the day's events."

After less than four days laying paths, weaving fences, planting up borders and drinking copious quantities of bottled water and eating carrot cake, the day of judgement arrived.

"Once again the weather would take the leading role. It took the judges five hours to decide who would be the BBC Gardener of the Year because of an incessant downpour.

"The final result was not important to us as we would have been pleased for whoever took the title. Indeed, once the winner's name had been announced, the individual concerned requested that the prize (a sandstone obelisk) should remain with the show gardens at Birmingham with the names of the finalists and their helpers carved into it rather than take it home.

"To the viewers, this might seem a magnanimous gesture, but we knew better. Not one of us liked the prize."

* Ms Attrill opened her garden to the public on May 25, to help raise money for the village school which her two children attend.

If you missed the event, and are passing by and would like to make a donation, cheques can be made out to "Friends of Husthwaite School".